Golden Memories Page 9

Origins

GOLDEN MEMORIES

THE INFLUENCE OF O.C. CASH

Few current members ever had the pleasure of meeting Cash in person. Those who did, recall a modest, quiet, charming and intelligent man who always wore cowboy boots, a ten gallon hat, chewed on a cigar (unlit) and loved to sing close harmony. It was his deep devotion to the joy of singing that inspired the movement of preserving the barbershop style we enjoy today.

Cash was without a doubt a people person, quick witted and fun loving. He seemed always about to break out in a laugh. Often described as very much like Will Rogers", Cash, though quiet and humble, possessed a special charisma. He admired the humorist and often adapted Rogers' quotes for his own purpose.

"I never met a fellow who did not like

barbershop quartet singing, but ifI ever do, I

am sure I will not like hiim"

O.C. Cash Owen Clifton Cash was born February 13, 1892 on a farm near Keytesville in northern Missouri in a log cabin rented from a Cherokee Indian. His sister, Idress, was born a year and a half later. Their father, Bryant Cash, was a Baptist preacher and a circuit rider. He was a distant cousin of John Cash (J.C.) Penney. The family moved in 1897 by covered wagon to Catale, Cherokee Indian Territory, later to become Oklahoma.

He gained an appreciation of music through a man named Jim Wiley, a drifter turned teacher hired by O.C.'s father. Cash remembers Wiley as "a whiz with harmonies". Jim lived with the Cash family for two years and became a hero of young Owen as well as everyone else. Wiley's Friday night "singing school" attracted everyone from around the territory. It became the social event of the week. Unfortunately, Wiley was led away by U.S. Marshals in the spring of 1900 for an alleged forgery charge incurred prior to arriving at the Territory. Cash never saw him again despite his best efforts.

The Cash family settled in Bluejacket, Oklahoma where his father went into the produce business. Owen entertained himself with a homemade cigar box fiddle and played it with three strings until his father could roundup a fourth. In high school, he played cornet in the Bluejacket Silver Cornet Band and also mastered the trombone. Cash had fond memories of barbershop quartet singing being "in vogue" when he was a child In Bluejacket.

"There is nothing wrong with our form of government that the good old fashioned Gay 90's idea of , pride, honesty, energy, and neighborliness will not cure." O.C. Cash He attended Bacone College, Muskogee from 1908 to 1910 then became a teacher near Prairie Valley for a year. In 1911 and 1912 he was editor of the local papers, The Bluejacket Weekly News and Craig County Gazette. He served as a deputy county clerk for two years then managed an abstract & title company from 1913 to 1916 in Wagoner, Anadarko, and Atoka. After many hours of studying law by correspondence and reading law books, Cash was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar in 1916.

He went to work for Prairie Oil and Gas Co. of Independence, Kansas In 1916 and was there till 1921. His career as an attorney was interrupted by

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Table of
Contents

Sections:
How It All Began Chapters Chapter Histories International Quartet Champions Choruses Administration
Contests and Conventions Registered Quartets Publications Recognitions In Conclusion